Chapter 1
Of all the places to be caught, downtown Robotropolis had to be the worst place next to the robot programming barracks. Sonic, the fastest living creature alive was in a fix and he knew it. Sweat dripped down his face as the realisation slowly sunk in that pure speed was not enough to help him this time. Sure, he could run faster than the speed of sound itself, like a bullet zip lining through a wind tunnel to its target, but Sonic knew he could not dodge the computer guided laser targeting of Robotnik's elite Swatbot units in such confined quarters. If it were open space with plenty of room to manoeuvre then maybe it would have been possible.
Sonic was trapped in a narrow alleyway which had been recently altered by Robotnik's ever-present robot forces. They had erected a tall barricade made of steel and coated with a shiny metallic coat that gave the effect of being impossible to climb – or rather run up as was Sonic's favourite party trick when giving Robotnik's elite Swatbot units the run-around.
Sonic tapped his foot impatiently and whistled to himself as a force of no more than 7 Swatbots closed in on him. So long as he didn't move, they would not fire their deadly arm mounted lasers on him. Oh no, Robotnik wanted Sonic alive to make an example of him.
'Any minute now would be great Sal…' Sonic casually said to the lead robot advancing on him with outstretched metal hands.
Hopping backwards two paces Sonic put some more distance between him and the Swatbots before he bumped into the wall.
Then a loud explosion and the sounds of twisted metal filled the air like a thunder clap and Sonic crouched over and held his mouth open to stop his eardrums from bursting. The air filled with a pulsing white light that flickered out of existence as fast as it came into being. After a minute of waiting to be sure there would not be a second explosion, Sonic rose to his feet.
Standing there on a light hovercraft built for 3 was his princess, Sally and standing up in his seat was the flamboyant figure of Antoine. Sally flashed her hazelnut eyes in Sonics direction for only a second before switching her attention back towards the controls. Sonic breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed as his mind filled with an icy cold sensation as he ran towards the hovercraft and accelerated fast but staying below the speed of sound. He did not want to cause a sonic boom and destabilise the craft. It took him a mere second to reach the craft but to him it felt more like 3 as time dilated around his physical form due to his speed and enhanced motor neurone abilities.
He dashed past the mangled and broken forms of the once hulking Swatbots and jumped in the air, passed his beautiful princess Sally and landed coolly in the crafts rear seat. It took a moment for Sally to realise he was in the craft before powering up the artificial anti-gravity enhancer and pushing the throttle down full power southwards to escape the undoubtedly huge response such an explosion would generate from being so close to the cities Swatbot barracks.
Antoine huffed in annoyance at Sonic and set his two-handed pulse launcher down between his knees and brushed back a lock of golden hair from his face and subconsciously checked his guards uniform for creases. Antoine is a rather flamboyant citizen of the planet Mobius and most people generally dislike his cowardly attitude and evident distaste at those he deems below him. A bit of a narcissist and foolish at times, he was quite handy with a firearm though with a natural talent developed through years of training with the Kings old guard.
Sonic sat back into the hovercrafts rather uncomfortable metal seats and felt the flood of cool liquid in his mind quickly dissipate and flood with heat instead. The hovercraft had been designed with worker robots in mind so comfort was not a top priority when being designed as worker robots were disposable. Still, it gave Sonic and Sally a grim satisfaction knowing that Robotnik himself had designed this and they had procured it from one of his many factories long ago.
'Did you get the data chips Sonic?' Sally immediately begun quizzing Sonic with her somewhat warm, cheerful voice
'Give a guy a minute to relax Sal, I was almost blasted back there looking for your data chips after all…and no I did not find all of them but I found two of them only leaving one more for us to track down' Sonic yawned and passed his two data chips forwards to Sally who held them tight with one hand whilst guiding the hovercraft over the south eastern badlands where the rocky hills and gorges would frustrate attempts to locate them by radar.
'No, these will have to do for now, it is too risky for us to try raiding Robotropolis anytime soon with Robotnik now alerted to what we are looking for. These will have to do.' Sally shook her head and ducked the craft low beyond a rocky outcrop and made a turn south for the great forest.
'Ahem?'
'Oh, yes, thanks Sonic' Sally responded to Sonics unspoken question and smiled to herself, a smile that went unnoticed by Sonic.